Dungeon Master's Guide
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VILE LORE<br />
The Book ofVile Darkness touches on every evil in the<br />
cosmos. A character can use the lore the book contains<br />
to unearth terrible secrets no mortal should know. Among<br />
the contents a character might fi nd are the following, plus<br />
whatever else you choose:<br />
Vile Apotheosis. The book could hold a ritual that allows a<br />
character to become a lich or death knight.<br />
True Names. The true names of any number of fiends<br />
might be in the book.<br />
Dark Magic. Several spells of horrific evil of the OM's<br />
design and choosing could be in the book. Spells could<br />
impose dreadful curses, disfigure others, require human<br />
sacrifice, afflict creatures with crippling pain, spread vile<br />
plagues, and so on.<br />
A creature attuned to the book must spend 80 hours<br />
reading and studying it to digest its contents and reap its<br />
benefits. The creature can then freely modify the book's<br />
contents, provided that those modifications advance evil<br />
and expand the lore already contained within.<br />
Whenever a non-evil creature attunes to the Book<br />
of Vile Darkness, that creature must make a DC 17<br />
Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the creature's<br />
alignment changes to neutral evil.<br />
The Book of Vile Darkness remains with you only<br />
as long as you strive to work evil in the world. If you<br />
fail to perform at least one evil act within the span<br />
of 10 days, or if you willingly perform a good act, the<br />
book disappears. If you die while attuned to the book,<br />
an entity of great evil claims your soul. You can't be<br />
restored to life by any means while your soul remains<br />
imprisoned.<br />
Random Properties. The Book of Vile Darkness has<br />
the following random properties:<br />
3 minor beneficial properties<br />
• 1 major beneficial property<br />
3 minor detrimental properties<br />
2 major detrimental properties<br />
Adjusted Ability Scores. After you spend the<br />
requisite amount of time reading and studying the<br />
book, one ability score of your choice increases by 2, to<br />
a maximum of 24. Another ability score of your choice<br />
decreases by 2, to a minimum of 3. The book can't<br />
adjust your ability scores again.<br />
Mark of Darkness. After you spend the requisite<br />
amount of time reading and studying the book, you<br />
acquire a physical disfigurement as a hideous sign<br />
of your devotion to vile darkness. An evil rune might<br />
appear on your face, your eyes might become glossy<br />
black, or horns might sprout from your forehead. Or<br />
you might become wizened and hideous, lose all facial<br />
features, gain a forked tongue, or some other feature<br />
the DM chooses. The mark of darkness grants you<br />
advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks made to<br />
interact with evil creatures and Charisma (Intimidation)<br />
checks made to interact with non-evil creatures.<br />
Command Evil. While you are attuned to the book<br />
and holding it, you can use an action to cast the<br />
dominate monster spell on an evil target (save DC 18).<br />
You can't use this property again until the next dawn.<br />
.<br />
BooK OF<br />
VILE DARKNESS·<br />
BooK OF<br />
EXAL TEO D EEDS<br />
.,<br />
. . .<br />
• '<br />
Dark Lore. You can reference the Book of Vile<br />
Darkness whenever you make an Intelligence check<br />
to recall information about some aspect of evil, such<br />
as lore about demons. When you do so, double your<br />
proficiency bonus on that check.<br />
Dark Speech. While you carry the Book of Vile<br />
Darkness and are attuned to it, you can use an action<br />
to recite word from its pages in a foul language known<br />
as Dark S peech. Each time you do so, you take 1d12<br />
CHAPTER 7 I TREASURE<br />
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